this has been patti murray and paul ryan. our democratic -- haven't been part of the discussion. so in terms of getting a sense of whether there's a deal brewing that can pass both houses, we don't have enough information at this point to know. all we know is they are moving closer and closer together. >> congressman, can you explain to us all exactly what is happening here and what is at stake? we've got $90 billion of automatic spending cuts that kick in next year and to do the deal over two years, they need to agree 180, maybe 200 billion of spending cuts to negate that. the information -- and you will know this better than i -- is that they are going for a much smaller deal, maybe 40 or 50 billion. congressman, if they do a 40 or 50 dollar bill, does that neutralize what is at stake? >> that is what's at stake and that's what i know patti murray and paul ryan are trying to do is basically negate the -- across the board cuts with the see zest ragz, which will be deaf state to go our military next year and it's already been devastating to many of our domestic spending initiativ